Non profit organization

Buying reselling

Maldoror Davier

Business problem

Talking about trading means talking about buying and reselling goods without production - in other words, without internal manufacturing. It therefore relates to the organizations that have an editing/publishing activity, contractors (for external manufacturing), or design (research department), and those who undertake the purchase and resale of products, without developing them or designing them internally.

With trade, we find two problems, one national, meaning hexagonal(French), even European and communal, as far as we are concerned. The other, international, leads to the question of import-export.

On a national level Three points are important to remember and treat

Inventory Management

First of all, it is necessary to know how to determine the value of a stock, or as it is known in accounting terms, the current asset. Then we must know how to management the depreciation of a stock, i.e. the loss of value of the stock overtime. It is also necessary to know how to control the management of the unsold stock.

Customer Management

In this area which is very sensitive for a trading company, FED implements credit management processes to manage receivables as efficiently as possible.

Funding/Financing

Addressing the issue of financing evokes the need for working capital to ensure the day-to-day operations of the company. Take the case of a company that has products manufactured in China. It places an order. These products will have to be paid three months before delivery, but shipping time and customs duty management for these products means they cannot be sold in Europe until six months after the initial order. The company must therefore make a cash advance of over several months.

Three options are available to the company: medium-term credit, cash, and factoring.

Factoring is the most delicate point, even if it is sometimes unavoidable. This is a mechanism to sell a bill to a bank (which will levy a commission in the process) and open a line of credit to the company that sells the bill. For a company, choosing the way of factoring may at first glance seem quite attractive, since it amounts, at least on paper, to delegating risk taking.

Import-Export

First, a point to remember: today, 2/3rd of the world trade is carried out within the same companies. In this context, for a company that works in several countries the challenge is to achieve the best tax optimization possible between its various branches of activity.
In which country do you undertake a particular activity (VAT rate…)? In what currency, and when, do you pay for a certain service (exchange rate, transfer rate…)? FED is here to advise you, to help you to progress and to answer all of your questions.
In addition, for companies whose trading activity includes product manufacturing, it is necessary to know how to best distribute the R&D costs on one side and manufacturing on the other. This point is important because in each case the fiscal and accounting situation differs. While R&D is considered a long-term investment that adds value to the company, manufacturing is an immediate cost that needs to be settled in the short term.

Firm solution

FED has been able to develop synergies internationally and is now working in a network with accountants in the most buoyant markets on a daily basis. The firm also has resources dedicated internally, specializing in credit management and financing.

E-commerce/sales abroad

Gaining responsiveness and streamlining costs are areas in which FED has special expertise and has designed processes to automate the flow of commercial management from the order to the collection. FED works closely with several IT companies and its expertise is fully adapted to the needs of the global and Internet economy.

When a company chooses to deploy an e-commerce solution, FED intervenes upstream with the Internet development company to set up a tailor-made back-office solution adapted to the requirements of the e-commerce site. Finally, when one embarks on the path of e-commerce, there is one point that is important not to neglect: VAT. The applicable rate differs according to the geographical location, according to the quantity of merchandise concerned, and according to the total amount of the franchise (which varies again according to the country). FED is here again to help you optimize these flows.

« In an increasingly complex economic and legal environment for SMEs, FED provides us with daily concrete solutions that are essential to our business. Their expertise is well established and their advice makes them our partner of choice for growth. »